Ethical issues in listening to young children in visual participatory research

Abstract

ABSTRACTEthical issues involving young children in research are complex and individual to each child, requiring the researcher to be reflexive and aware of the nature of the child’s participation. This paper draws on the experiences of 16 5- to 7-year-old children, transitioning from kindergarten to first grade in Chile as reported by them through visual participatory research. Integral to the ethical principles were the use of a visual participatory design, a listening framework and the child’s rights perspective. In order to be faithful to the research design proposed, different ethical guidelines were revised and followed to ensure protection, anonymity, the right to withdraw and privacy to the children deciding to get involved in the research process. Essential to this work was recognising the child as the most knowledgeable agent in her/his own experiences in order to minimise issues of power and increase children’s awareness during the data collection process. Findings from the study demonstrate different situations in which the researcher’s self-reflexivity can enhance positive outcomes related to ethical issues and young children’s ability to understand the research process, communicate meanings and jointly create new meanings through the tools provided and activities proposed. Ethical challenges and implications for future research with children are discussed.